Edinburgh Castle rises 135 metres above the city on the basalt plug of an extinct volcano, its sheer faces carved by Ice Age glaciers. Ptolemy marked the volcano on his 2nd-century map of Britain as Castra Alatum, Eagle Rock. The Romans evidently knew a commanding position when they saw one.

In the 45 years between 1296 and 1341, the castle changed hands four times. It is Europe's most besieged fortification, with over 23 recorded attempts on its walls. Mary Queen of Scots gave birth here in 1566 to the child who would become James I of England. The esplanade, now famous for the Military Tattoo, was once an execution ground, and women were burned here on charges of witchcraft.

VoiceMap's tours trace the castle's reach across Edinburgh's longer story, from its role as Britain's first WWII prisoner-of-war site to the curious tale of a boy piper dispatched alone into the tunnels beneath the esplanade, his bagpipes the only means those above had of tracking his route through the dark.